Biography
About John Rinaldi
John's love of singing and musical theater is lifelong.
Born in Orange, California, he landed his first part, an Islander on Bali H'ai in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" (which was performed under the stars at the magical Pearson Park Amphitheater), at the age of 11. His first principal role was Prince Chululongkorn in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I", which he performed with the Whittier/LaMirada Light Opera the following year. As a young person, John studied classical and musical theater vocal technique with Darlene Romano (Chair of the Music Department at the College of the Desert from 1985-2019), and acting with Leland Murray. John took piano lessons from Eleanor Twichell from age 9 to age 16, sang in Concert Choir and Vocal Ensemble at Santiago Junior High School and performed in numerous productions with Fullerton Civic Light Opera, the Grove Shakespeare Festival, Downey Civic Light Opera, Long Beach Community Players, Newport Theatre Arts Center, the Beverly Hills Playhouse, and the Yorba Linda Musical Theatre. It was during those years that John cut his teeth on everything from "Song of Norway" and "Finian's Rainbow" to "Evita", "A Chorus Line" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." He has always been at home in a variety of styles from opera to contemporary, which has informed his career as both a performer and a teacher.
John graduated early from high school, and at the age of 16, made his professional stage debut as the Bangleman in "Kismet" at Sebastian's/West Dinner Playhouse in San Clemente, CA. His next two performances (Mendel in "Fiddler on the Roof" and as a featured performer in the 1940s musical revue "Jukebox Saturday Night") were also at Sebastian's. At the age of 19, John was offered a contract to sing in the chorus of "Aida" with Opera Pacific at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA. Opera Pacific became John's artistic home for the next few years, and soon John was asked to join OP's Apprentice Artist program. This gave him a chance to take master classes from many of the creative professionals involved in OP's productions. Highlights of John's time at Opera Pacific included singing as the Tenor in the "My Fair Lady” Cockney Quartet, opposite Patti Cohenour as Eliza Dolittle, and directed by Lara Teeter. He also appeared as Violetta's servant, Giuseppe, in "La Traviata", and was a chorister in "Norma" starring Dame Joan Sutherland. During this period, John had the great good fortune to study voice from the brilliant Kathryn Skatula, who appeared in the National Tours of both "Annie" and "Nine" and who coached many Hollywood notables.
John studied Theatre and French at Orange Coast College, then took some time away from performing and studying to work in both the tech industry and the non-profit sector. Whether that meant carrying a bullhorn to lead tours of engineers around Excite.com's new campus in Redwood City, CA, working with tech-nerds from around the globe in Apple Computer's International Developer Department in Santa Clara, CA, or working as a trainer for Eastfield Ming Quong (EMQ) in both Los Gatos and Campbell, CA, John was never far from the spotlight.
John began studying voice and acting again at American Conservatory Theatre's Studio program in 2006. At ACT John learned how to harness his power as an actor. This blew the doors off the proverbial barn for John, allowing him to tap into both vocal and emotional reserves that he had never before had a chance to access. He returned to performing in 2007, with the revue "The Music that Makes Me Dance" at ACT's Garret Theatre. He also appeared in ACT's Ruby Jubilee.
John returned to college in 2012 and completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA in 2015, graduating Summa Cum Laude. While at NDNU, he also completed two summers of their Musical Theatre Conservatory, which gave him a chance to take master classes from artists as diverse as Karen Morrow, Euan Morton, Susan Egan, Wesla Whitfield, and Jamie Torcellini, and also to work with incredible faculty members like Dr. Lee Strawn, Daniel Lockert (who is still one of John's vocal coaches and pianists), Debra Lambert, Marc Jacobs, Greg Fritsch, Kimberly Mohne-Hill, Dottie Lester-White and Robyn Tribuzi. Dr. Lee Strawn also oversaw John's required student teaching and was his voice teacher from 2012 to 2015. During his years at NDNU, John stepped into leading roles from Uncle Max in "The Sound of Music" to Alfredo in "Die Fledermaus", King Ouf in Chabrier's "The Star" and Mr. Laurence in "Little Women". He also had the chance to participate as an actor in two readings of Craig Bohmler's remarkable musical "All the More to Love", one at Hillbarn Theatre and the other at NDNU as a fund-raiser for the Musical Theatre Conservatory. In "ATMTL", John enjoyed playing a swath of different characters, with a shoe fetishist with a thing for a certain sassy red pump, and a down-on-her-luck drag queen named Gloria N.X. Chelsea standing out as his favorites.
In the years from 2012-2016, John appeared in many musicals in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of his favorite roles and credits include Bundles McCloskey/Man With Papers/Bert Healy/Morganthau/Servant/Ensemble in "Annie" at Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre in Livermore (talk about a busy track!), Manfred (who sings the pattery "The Lady's Paying") in "Sunset Boulevard" at Contra Costa Musical Theatre in Walnut Creek, Sipos in "She Loves Me" and Mister (as well as understudying Jules and Louis) in "Sunday in the Park with George" at Foothill Musical Theatre, a cross-dressing Herod in "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Coastal Repertory Theatre in Half Moon Bay, Mr. Erlanson (the tenor in the Liebeslieders/Quintet) in "A Little Night Music" and the cigar-chomping Herman (who loves to cry at weddings) in "Sweet Charity" at Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City. He returned to his outdoor theatre roots during three seasons at Woodminster Amphitheatre in Oakland, playing Avram in "Fiddler on the Roof" and Bamatabois in "Les Miserables", as well as singing in the Ensemble of "Annie Get Your Gun" and serving as a pit singer in "A Chorus Line".
John was a Staff Music Director at the Hillbarn Theatre Conservatory from 2014-2016, wielding the conductor's baton for shows ranging from Jason Robert Brown's "13", to "Oklahoma!" and "Willy Wonka Jr."
John also began performing cabaret in 2016, and his two unique one-man shows have played to full houses at the Society Cabaret's venues in San Francisco and San Jose, as well as The Sausalito Song Society, and Don’t Tell Mama in NYC. "He Said/She Said" is an irreverent look at John's life and loves through the eyes of some of his favorite musical theatre heroes...and heroines. "Another Hundred People" focuses on John's love affair with The Big Apple, which started when he made his first pilgrimage to Broadway to see the original production of "Annie" in 1978. He has guested in cabaret shows with G. Scott Lacy and Patrick Leveque, and played the dual role of notorious gangster Nicky Gazpacho and an on-the-lam Bad Santa in "Cabanoir", a 1940s film noir-spoof musical cabaret for the holiday season which played at the Society Cabaret in San Francisco in December, 2016. John made his NYC debut with “The Cranky Cabaret”, a delightful collection of actors singing songs of anger and various levels of being annoyed. He went on to perform “He Said/She Said” at Don’t Tell Mama three times in the fall of 2018. John has also appeared on the podcasts “Drunk Broadway” and “Morgan on the Dayley”, as well as in a recording of the new operetta “Scandalous” By Geoffrey Colton. See the Media page for links to all of that juicy content.
To keep his acting chops sharp, John has been taking classes (first in-person, now online) in Meisner Acting Technique with Steven Ditmyer through Meisner International in Amsterdam since November, 2019. Perhaps surprisingly, much of the Meisner work is directly transferable to our work as singers, so we may touch on some elements of Meisner during your voice lesson or coaching.
John opened his private voice studio in the Bay Area in June of 2015, working with students of all ages and skill levels. His students ranged from beginners to Broadway veterans. John was pleased to see his students getting cast regularly by some of the best Bay Area theaters. John's training allows him to listen to a singer and quickly identify their vocal strengths and weaknesses. He works with students on vocal technique, interpretation, choosing the correct material for their casting type, and developing a strong audition book. John works with each student at their own level, while also helping them to stretch and challenge themselves artistically, but always with a focus of singing in a safe, healthy and sustainable manner. You only have one voice, so you should learn how to treat it right and sing your best.
For John, performing and teaching are two sides of the same coin. One feeds the other. Being a teacher makes John a stronger performer, and being a strong performer makes John a better teacher. John is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union for professional singers.
John now lives just outside of Amsterdam, Netherlands which makes it easy for him to work on either side of “The Pond”. He is married to Krijn, and they have two rescue dogs, Domino and Lola.
During the Covid crisis, John has performed in online projects for Palo Alto Players, Tenacious Theatrics and P3 Theatre Company. He appeared on a Holiday 2020 recording (“Home, Hope and Holidays”) for Broadway by the Bay and sang a duet with Krissy Dorn on JB Productions recent recording “Best of Broadway.. All of those performances are available here on the web site for you to (hopefully) enjoy.
From January to April, 2021, John worked on the short film “Crossroads Life”, playing the supporting role of Oliver. This film was shown (and won the Jury Prize) at The Hague Global Cinema Festival in The Hague, the Netherlands. He also recently filmed roles in the web series “Bittersweet”, and the horror film “Beast and Feast”.
John performed his newest cabaret show, “Not Just a Phase” at the Kerk van Beets, in his adopted home town of Beets, Netherlands in October, 2021. in 2022, John co-founded the Jewel Box Musical Theater along with Krissy Dorn, Merel Zeeman and Frans Heemskerk. Their first show together, Maltby and Shire’s “Starting Here, Starting Now”, will debut in January, 2023. Please be sure to visit John’s “Recent and Upcoming Performances” page to keep abreast of performance dates and locations.
Fun trivia fact: John spent his 18th birthday working as an extra in the cult-classic film "Back to School" starring Rodney Dangerfield. He appears in the pivotal "Triple Lindy" dive sequence.